Super Saturday Empowers Families

August 22, 2013

by Elizabeth Chapin

With more workshops, volunteers, sponsors, and future college students, this year’s Super Saturday was bigger and better than ever.

Nearly 3,000 middle and high school students and their families gathered at CSU Dominguez Hills August 17 for the event, which is part of the CSU’s African American Initiative and aims to equip students and their families with the tools and resources it takes to get to college.

Under a first-year partnership, the CSU also joined with the McDonald’s Operators of Southern California who provided transportation and free breakfast for students from Ventura, Riverside, San Bernardino and Antelope Valley.

CSU volunteers were on hand to share information about admissions, the application process, courses, majors, campus life, housing and financial aid. And with representatives from nearly all 23 campuses present, students and families could decide which campus and program is the right fit by talking to current students and alumni, faculty and staff.

Breakout workshop sessions offered more information and many included firsthand accounts of the successful journey to college.

During a workshop about careers in the hospitality industry, Cal Poly Pomona student Cassaundra Williams discussed her own personal success story.

“I came from a middle-class family and my parents didn’t go to college, so I didn’t really think it was in my future,” said Williams. “But I sought out the many resources available to me and made it. Financial aid is your best friend on the path to college.”

The hospitality session was just one of the new workshops offered this year. In breakout sessions like “Parent Training and Empowerment” and “African American and Latino Males in Higher Ed,” families discussed college obstacles faced by students from underrepresented communities and the educational resources available to overcome them.

The Super Saturday event was developed as a result of the success experienced through Super Sunday, an annual outreach event held each February that brings CSU leadership to local churches to take the pulpit about college preparation.

Find out more about Super Saturday and the African American Initiative here.